St. Augustinegrass named `W-1`

ABSTRACT

An asexually reproduced variety of perennial St. Augustinegrass with a unique combination of characters including white stigmas, yellow anthers, an absence of leaf hairs, floret number per raceme, raceme length, leaf length, and internode length, having good turf performance, good winter hardiness, and a distinct DNA fingerprint.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a new and distinct perennial St. Augustinegrass cultivar, tested as W-1, that was discovered by the inventor in the State of California. It was identified as a clone superior in quality (density and uniformity) to the surrounding California Common St. Augustinegrass grown on a sod farm in Winchester, Calif. California Common was the only St. Augustinegrass on the farm or in the immediate area. W-1 is a high quality, stoloniferous turf with good winter hardiness for use as a lawn or turf wherever St. Augustinegrass is adapted, with improved winter survival in the northern areas of St. Augustinegrass adaptation with the coldest winters, such as Dallas-Ft. Worth, Tex.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS

FIGS. 1 and 2 are DNA fingerprints of St. Augustinegrass varieties. The DNA fingerprints were produced by polymerase chain reaction using random primers, illustrating W-1 is different from Seville and Raleigh.

FIG. 3 is a photograph of a vegetative stolon of W-1.

FIG. 4 is a photograph of the leaf blade and ligule of W-1.

FIG. 5 is a photograph of the inflorescence of W-1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PLANT

W-1 was characterized in greenhouse and field conditions. W-1 is a unique variety of St. Augustinegrass [Stenotaphrum secundatum (Walt). Kuntze] discovered under cultivated, mowed turf conditions at the sod farm described above. W-1 was identified as higher in density and uniformity from the surrounding California Common St. Augustinegrass. W-1 was propagated by cutting of stolons, rooting them in soil, and planting of the rooted stolons to provide planting stock for studying performance and for comparisons with commercial varieties. W-1 remained stable in both performance and morphological characters after propagation. W-1 has been propagated by sod, plugs, and stolons. No seedling establishment from W-1 has been noticed in either greenhouse or field plantings, suggesting lack of sexual reproduction.

W-1 distinguished from other varieties of St. Augustinegrass by the combination of characters of white stigmas, yelow anthers, floret number per raceme, raceme length, leaf length, intermode length and diameter, spikelet length, leaf and internode color, and lack of leaf hairs. W-1 shows a distinct DNA fingerprint. W-1 is closest in appearance and performance to Raleigh St. Augustinegrass.

The creeping stolons of W-1 are dorsiventrally compressed and root adventitiously at the nodes. W-1 lacks rhizomes. Color notations of plant tissues were based on the Munsell Color Charts for Plant Tissues, Munsell Color, Baltimore, Md., 1977. Color notations are affected by light quality and fertility and general growth of the plants. The internode color of W-1 is 7.5 GY 5/6, with Raleigh, held under the same growth conditions, at 7.5 GY 5/6. W-1 has a distinct lack of purple color in the stolons, in contrast to many St. Augustinegrasses. Leaf blades of W-1 are folded in the bud, contracted at the base, and obtuse at the tip. Leaf blade lengths vary by growing conditions, but the third youngest unmowed leaf on a stolon in August, Buckholdts, Tex. ranged from 16 to 85 mm with a mean of 34.9 mm of for 15 leaves. There is an absence of hairs on the leaf blades of W-1. Measured under greenhouse conditions in Jul. 1994, the genetic, adaxial leaf color of W-1 is 5 GY 6/6, with Raleigh having a color of 5 GY 5/8. Measured under greenhouse conditions in October 1995, the genetic, adaxial leaf color of W-1 is 7.5 GY 5/6, with Raleigh having a color of 7.5 GY 4/6.

The ligule of W-1 is a line of short hairs, approximately 2 mm in length. The leaf sheaths are laterally compressed and are approximately 32.5 mm in length (Table 1), shorter than Raleigh at a mean of 40.9. Using ratios established in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 6,921, the ratio of leaf sheaths of Raleigh:California Common=1.68 (3.7/2.2). By comparison from data in Table 1, W-1 has a longer leaf sheath than California Common (Raleigh:W-b 1 leaf sheath ratio=1.25 (40.9/32.5).

The flag leaf width of W-1 is 6.6 mm, with Raleigh having a mean of 7.06 mm (Table 2). W-1 has white stigmas and yellow anthers, undistinguished in color from other plants of the species (Table 3). The floral region of W-1 consists of spikelets partially embedded in a flattened and thickened rachis of a short, unilateral spicate inflorescence with a raceme length of 55 to 70 mm (Table 4). W-1 has a mean of 28 spikelets per raceme, which trends to be a lower number of spikelets than Raleigh, and more than Seville (Table 4). The mean spikelet length of W-1 is 3.8 mm, with Raleigh having a mean of 4.23, measured under the same growth conditions. The spikelets of W-1 are awnless.

The mean stolon internode diameter of W-1 is 2.29×3.1 mm, less than Raleigh with a stolon diameter of 3.1×3.5 mm. By U.S. Plant Pat. No. 6,921, California Common has an internode diameter of 2.4×2.0 mm, and Raleigh with an internode diameter of 3.2×2.5 mm. W-1 has a mean internode length of6.45 cm (Table 5), shorter than Raleigh with a mean of 7.8 cm, and longer than Seville with a mean of 4.2 cm.

The chromosome number of W-1 is 18.

Quality in turf performance may be defined as a combination of characters of color, density, uniformity, and leaf texture. Density is defined as the number of leaves and tillers per unit area. Uniformity is defined as freedom from weeds or diseases. W-1 shows high quality turf performance in field trails in Buckholts, Tex. (Tables 6, 7, and 8). In these trails, W-1 showed quality as finer leaf texture than Raleigh, tiller density higher than Raleigh, good uniformity, and acceptable turf color. W-1 has good turf performance when mowed at 5 cm mowing height, with a rotary mower. W-1 is vigorous in establishing a turf cover, as indicated in the growth from a 22.5% cover to 73.8% in an approximate 6-month period (Table 8).

The high quality performance of W-1 may be directly related to the high tiller density which competes with weeds, and the superior winter hardiness (tested as survival in Buckholts, Tex., Table 8). Thatch measurements taken from replicated trails located at Buckholts, Tex. during August and October 1994 showed no significant difference in thatch depth between W-1 and Raleigh of Texas Common. Thatch, defined as the tightly intermingled layer of dead and living stems and roots would be excessively different only if the rate of accumulation exceed the rate of decomposition. W-1's lack of high thatch accumulation is a positive attribute, and in comparison to Raleigh could be accounted for by increased tiller production but with moderate leaf lengths and widths. Raleigh has fewer tillers but longer leaves, so the two varieties may have dissimilar but compensating factors.

W-1 has good winter hardiness as illustrated by percent cover after the 1993-94 winter in Buckholts, Tex., was not different from Raleigh, and was superior to both Seville and Texas Common (Table 8), A lower percent cover after the winter of 1993-94 would have indicated more susceptibility to frost and winter damage. Observations of W-1 during the 194-95 winter at Buckholts, Tex. showed winter hardiness not different from Raleigh. Personal observation of turf performance in Buckholts, Tex. indicates moisture stress resistance similar to Raleigh. W-1 has shown moderate susceptibility to gray leaf spot in the Buckholts, Tex. trials. The shade tolerance of W-1 has not been tested.

With the presence of white stigmas, yellow anthers, and an absence of leaf hairs, W-1 is distinguished from all patented St. Augustinegrasses except #141, 6-72-99 (Delmar), and 6-72-182 (Tables 3, 3a). W-1exhibits more florets per raceme than Seville (Table 4), is not different from number of florets per raceme than Raleigh, but has a shorter raceme length than Raleigh. W-1 has a flag leaf sheath longer than Seville (Table 1); Seville has a flag leaf sheath longer than 6-72-182 (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 6,922). W-1 has a raceme averaging 67.3 mm (Table 4). Delmar has a spike 93 mm in length (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 6,372), with #141 having an average length of 8.97 cm (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 3,834), both longer than W-1. W-1 has a longer leaf length (Table 2) and longer internodes (Table 5) than #141 (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 3,834). W-1 shows a distinctly different DNA from Seville and Raleigh using PCR DNA fingerprints (FIGS. 1 and 2).

                  TABLE 1                                                          ______________________________________                                         Morphological comparisons of W-1 and                                           commercial St. Augustinegrass varieties measured                               from plants maintained in greenhouse pots.                                               Sheath   Sheath     Sheath Leaf                                                Length.sup.1                                                                            Length.sup.2                                                                              Length.sup.3                                                                          Width.sup.3                               Variety   mm       mm         mm     mm                                        ______________________________________                                         W-1       40.4b    33.5a      23.6b  6.3c                                      Raleigh   52.9a    36.3a      33.6a  8.9a                                      Seville   35.2b    22.4c      17.6c  5.8c                                      ______________________________________                                          .sup.1 Measured on flag leaf sheaths, Sept. 1993; Mean separation by           General Linear Models.                                                         .sup.2 Measured on flag leaf sheaths, Oct. 1994; Mean separation by            Waller/Duncan tests.                                                           .sup.3 Measured on 3rd youngest leaf, Sept. 1993; Mean separation by           Waller/Duncan tests.                                                     

                  TABLE 2                                                          ______________________________________                                         Comparisons of W-1 and other                                                   St. Augustinegrass flag leaf widths and lengths.                                        Flag Leaf Flag Leaf Flag Leaf                                                                              Flag Leaf                                          Width.sup.1                                                                              Width.sup.2                                                                              Width.sup.3                                                                            Length.sup.4                              Variety  mm        mm        mm      mm                                        ______________________________________                                         W-1      4.8ab     8.0a      7.0a    18.5a                                     Raleigh  5.2a      7.9a      8.1a    19.8a                                     Tx. Common                                                                              4.2b      .         .       .                                         Seville  .         5.9b      5.1b    9.9b                                      ______________________________________                                          .sup.1 Measured July 1993 from replicated field trials, Buckholts, TX,         with mean separation by General Linear Models.                                 .sup.2 Measured July 1994 on greenhouse planted material with mean             separation by Waller/Duncan tests.                                             .sup.3 Measured Oct. 1994 on greenhouse planted material with mean             separation by Waller/Duncan tests.                                             .sup.4 Measured Oct. 1994 on greenhouse planted material with mean             separation by Waller/Duncan tests.                                       

                  TABLE 3                                                          ______________________________________                                         Stigma color, anther color, and presence                                       of leaf hairs on St. Augustinegrass varieties from                             plants maintained in greenhouse pots, July 1994.                                        Stigma        Anther  Leaf                                            Variety  color         color   hairs                                           ______________________________________                                         W-1      white         yellow  absent                                          Raleigh  white         yellow  absent                                          Seville  purple        yellow  absent                                          ______________________________________                                    

                  TABLE 3a                                                         ______________________________________                                         Stigma color, anther color, and leaf hairs                                     of St. Augustinegrasses as listed in US Plant Patents.                                    Stigma   Anther      Leaf  U.S.                                     Variety    Color    Color       Hairs Patent                                   ______________________________________                                         Ea 611081  Purple   .           .     2,863                                    Ea 6416    Purple   .           .     2,864                                    Ea 673     Purple   .           .     3,180                                    #4875       Purple* .           .     3,491                                    73176      Purple   .           .     3,681                                    45176      Purple   .           .     3,698                                    # 141      White    .           .     3,834                                    615866     Purple   .           .     4,097                                    (Seville)                                                                      PS-247     Purple   Light       .     6,126                                                        purple                                                     6-72-99    White    Yellow      .     6,372                                    (Delmar)                                                                       6-72-182   White    Yellow      .     6,921                                    6-72-130   Purple   Purple      .     6,922                                    FX-33      Purple   Orange      Many  7,699                                                        Yellow                                                     FX-10      5RP 3/10 10YR 7/10   Present                                                                              7,852                                    ______________________________________                                          *With white filaments                                                    

                  TABLE 4                                                          ______________________________________                                         Morphological comparisons of W-1 and                                           other commercial St. Augustinegrass varieties                                  measured from plants maintained in greenhouse pots.                                                         Raceme Raceme Raceme                                     Floret.sup.1                                                                           Floret.sup.2                                                                           Floret.sup.3                                                                         Length.sup.1                                                                          Length.sup.2                                                                          Length.sup.3                        Variety                                                                               #       #       #     mm     mm     mm                                  ______________________________________                                         W-1    33.8a   29.8a   21.5a 69.8b  64.7b  55.7a                               Raleigh                                                                               34.2a   30.1a   19.2a 93.3a  76.5a  59.6a                               Seville                                                                               24.1b   23.7b   13.0b 67.8b  61.3c  41.7b                               ______________________________________                                          .sup.1 Measured Sept. 1993; Mean separation by General Linear Models.          .sup.2 Measured July 1994; Mean separation by Waller/Duncan tests.             .sup.3 Measured October 1994; Mean separation by Waller/Duncan tests.    

                  TABLE 5                                                          ______________________________________                                         Stolon internode lengths of W-1 and                                            commercial St. Augustinegrass varieties measured                               from plants maintained in greenhouse pots.                                                Internode 2-3                                                                           Internode 3-4                                              Variety      cm                                                                ______________________________________                                         W-1          6.4b.sup.1 6.5b                                                   Raleigh      8.1a       7.5a                                                   Seville      4.2c       4.2c                                                   ______________________________________                                          .sup.1 Measured 2 October 1994 with mean separation by Waller/Duncan           tests.                                                                   

                  TABLE 6                                                          ______________________________________                                         Quality ratings of W-1 and other                                               commercial St. Augustinegrass varieties established                            as sod in replicated field trials, Buckholts, TX.                              Date                                                                           26 Jul 93   17 Aug 93 11 Oct 93                                                                               17 Oct 94                                                                             4 July 94                                Variety                                                                               Quality Ratings.sup.1    % Cover.sup.3                                  ______________________________________                                         W-1    7.3a.sup.2                                                                              6.5a      6.8a   4.8a   29.0a                                  Raleigh                                                                               5.9b     5.5a      5.4b   5.0a   37.0a                                  Tx. Com.                                                                              3.4c     3.0b      3.4c   2.0b   1.2b                                   ______________________________________                                          .sup.1 Ratings made on a scale of 1-9 with 9 = best.                           .sup.2 Mean separation by General Linear Models on 26 July, Waller/Duncan      on 17 August and 11 October 1993, and 17 October 1994.                         .sup.3 Mean separation by Waller/Duncan.                                 

                  TABLE 7                                                          ______________________________________                                         Density ratings of W-1 and other commercial                                    St. Augustinegrass varieties established as sod in                             replicated field trials, Buckholts, TX.                                                 Date                                                                           26 July 93                                                                               17 Aug 93 11 Oct 93                                         Variety    Density Ratings.sup.1                                               ______________________________________                                         W-1        6.6a.sup.2  7.0a      6.8a                                          Raleigh    4.6b        5.2b      5.2b                                          Tx. Common 2.8c        3.8c      4.0c                                          ______________________________________                                          .sup.1 Density rated on a scale of 1-9 with 9 = best.                          .sup.2 Mean separation by Waller/Duncan.                                 

                  TABLE 7a                                                         ______________________________________                                         Mean tiller number per four-inch diameter core of W-1 and                      other commercial St. Augustinegrass varieties established                      as sod in replicated trials, Buckholts, TX.                                                    Tiller                                                         Variety         number                                                         ______________________________________                                         W-1             19.7a.sup.1                                                                            25.7a.sup.2                                            Raleigh         17.0a   19.7ab                                                 Tx. Com.        8.7b    16.5b                                                  ______________________________________                                          .sup.1 Mean of two cores per plot used for analysis purposes, measured 8       Sept. 1994. Mean separation by Waller/Duncan tests.                            .sup.2 Mean of two cores per plot used for analysis purposes, measured 17      October 1994. Mean separation by Waller/Duncan.                          

                  TABLE 8                                                          ______________________________________                                         Percent plot cover and density ratings of W-1 and other                        commercial St. Augustinegrass varieties established July 1993                  from plugs in replicated trials at Buckholts, TX. Percent                      cover relates to winter survival as measured on 22 April 1994.                        Date                                                                           22 Apr 94 17 Oct 94                                                                               17 Oct 94                                            Variety  % Cover          Density Rating                                       ______________________________________                                         W-1      22.5a.sup.1 73.8a    6.0a.sup.2                                       Raleigh  17.5a       80.0a    5.5a                                             Seville  3.3b        52.5a    4.0a                                             Tx. Com. 1.3b        3.0b     0.3b                                             ______________________________________                                          .sup.1 Mean separation by Waller/Duncan.                                       .sup.2 Rated on a scale of 1-9 with 9 = most dense, with mean separation       by Waller/Duncan.                                                        

DETAILED SUMMARY OF DNA FINGERPRINT ANALYSIS

Dr. Lin Wu, Univ. California--Davis, performed the DNA fingerprint analysis. The St. Augustinegrass DNA fingerprints were W-1, Seville, and Raleigh. the DNA fingerprints were produced by polymerase chain reaction using random primers. The four DNA fingerprint profiles of each variety produced by the primers A9 and A16 from the left to right are the DNA profiles of the two duplicate DNA extractions extracted from the leaf tissue of the vegetatively propagated clones. The results of the DNA fingerprint analysis are summarized:

1W-1 is different from Raleigh by Primer A9 and A16.

2. W-1 is different from Seville by Primer A9 and A16. 

I claim:
 1. A new and distinct cultivar of an asexually reproduced St. Augustinegrass plant, as shown and described, with a unique combination of characters including white stigmas, yellow anthers, an absence of leaf hairs, floret number per raceme, raceme length, leaf length, and intermode length, having good turf performance, good winter hardiness, and a distinct DNA fingerprint. 